17 years after it was first released, Bowling For Soup have revisited their breakthrough hit, giving ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’ an update for 2019.
What’s the first song you think of when you hear the name Bowling For Soup? If you instantly begin humming the chorus to their cover (yes, it was a cover) of ‘1985’, then you might not have been lucky enough to witness their breakthrough hit, ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’.
Released in 2002, the song was a product of its time, talking about the protagonist’s desire to get with a girl who is more desirable to the “bad guys”.
Just what made her desirable, you ask? Well, according to the song, it was her fondness of rap metal bands like Godsmack, her lip ring, her desire to “score some reefer and a forty”, and love of guys with mullets, moustaches, and souped-up cars.
Since the release of the song, a few things have changed. After all, no one uses a two way (that’s a pager, by the way), and rap metal has fallen by the wayside. So with Bowling For Soup recently appearing at the Reading & Leeds Festival, the folks at BBC Radio 1 convinced the band to “update an anthem”.
Check out Bowling For Soup updating ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’:
With Jaret Reddick and Rob Felicetti throwing down an acoustic version of the tune, the lyrics are updated right from the start, giving a millennial’s take on this tune from the turn of the millennium.
“8 o’clock, Monday night and I’m on Tinder, I swipe right on a girl a little cooler than me,” the lyrics begin. “Her name is Ava, she has a choker and a lip kit, she likes Yungblud but I’m not quite sure who that is.”
Meanwhile, the chorus sees a similar bout of new lyrics, changing the iconic lines to “She’s watching UFC, liking guys with neck tats, listening to Bring Me [The Horizon], got Post Malone on snapchat.”
The rest of the tune continues as you might expect, with a few references to The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, and Lil Uzi Vert being thrown in for good measure.
As it stands, it’s been five years since Bowling For Soup were last on our shores, having visited as part of the 2014 Soundwave Festival. No word yet as to whether they’ll bust out this 2019 version of the track when they make their return!
Check out the original version of ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’:
